The Increase of Flavonoids in Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (PCR) Induced by Fungi Promotes the Increase of Antioxidant Activity.

Fu Wang,Feng-Qing Li,Hong-Ping Chen,Lin Chen,Su-Juan Liu,You-Ping Liu

doi:10.1155/2018/2506037

Abstract

There are thousands of traditional Chinese medicines in China, and they all have to be stored for a period of time for the reason of market price or other factors. But some traditional Chinese medicines especially need to be stored longer, and the clinical efficacy will be better. The cause and mechanism of this phenomenon have attracted much attention in recent years. In this study, we analyze the reason of “the longer storage period the better” of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (PCR); method of microscopic and molecular identification was used to identify the fungi separated and purified from PCR. The HPLC and UV spectrophotometry methods were used to determine the contents of flavonoids in PCR. The isolated fungi were inoculated into sterile samples to screen the fungi closely related to the change of flavonoids. The results indicate that the strain of Aspergillus niger could obviously promote the contents of flavonoids, and it could also increase the antioxidant effect of PCR. In conclusion, this study explains the reason of “the longer storage period the better” of PCR from the perspective of microbe, proving the beneficial effect of microorganism on the surface of PCR.

Highlights

Tangerine is distributed throughout the world and there are many varieties of variations; the fruit is sweet and sour and is loved by the people all over the world
Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (PCR) is a traditional Chinese medicine from the dried and ripe peel of Citrus reticulata Blanco and its cultivated varieties [1]; it has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine prescription for about 2000 years up to now and has the function of eliminating dampness and phlegm
The results have shown that 25 strains were isolated, belonging to 2 genera and 5 species, all belonging to Penicillium genus and Aspergillus, respectively, for Penicillium common, Penicillium milmonillium, Penicillium citrinum, Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus niger; (a) dominant fungi was Aspergillus niger

Summary

Introduction

Tangerine is distributed throughout the world and there are many varieties of variations; the fruit is sweet and sour and is loved by the people all over the world. Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (PCR) is a traditional Chinese medicine from the dried and ripe peel of Citrus reticulata Blanco and its cultivated varieties [1]; it has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine prescription for about 2000 years up to now and has the function of eliminating dampness and phlegm. The reason “the longer storage period the better” of PCR had been studied by many researchers [2,3,4]; it was generally believed that the accumulation of active substances may occur during the long-term storage, so as to achieve the goal of increasing efficacy. We all know that volatile oil is volatile and the content will decrease continuously, but the reason for the increase of flavonoids is not clear, which cannot explain the reason “the longer storage period the better” of PCR. By the way of Number of samples PCR1 PCR2 PCR3 PCR4 PCR5 PCR6 PCR7 PCR8

Methods

Results

Conclusion